Discovery BoxPsalms 71:1-20
Context71:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!
Never let me be humiliated!
71:2 Vindicate me by rescuing me! 2
71:3 Be my protector and refuge, 5
a stronghold where I can be safe! 6
For you are my high ridge 7 and my stronghold.
71:4 My God, rescue me from the power 8 of the wicked,
from the hand of the cruel oppressor!
71:5 For you give me confidence, 9 O Lord;
O Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young. 10
71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; 11
you pulled me 12 from my mother’s womb.
I praise you continually. 13
71:7 Many are appalled when they see me, 14
but you are my secure shelter.
71:8 I praise you constantly
and speak of your splendor all day long. 15
71:9 Do not reject me in my old age! 16
When my strength fails, do not abandon me!
71:10 For my enemies talk about me;
those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise. 17
71:11 They say, 18 “God has abandoned him.
Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him!”
71:12 O God, do not remain far away from me!
My God, hurry and help me! 19
71:13 May my accusers be humiliated and defeated!
May those who want to harm me 20 be covered with scorn and disgrace!
71:14 As for me, I will wait continually,
and will continue to praise you. 21
71:15 I will tell about your justice,
and all day long proclaim your salvation, 22
though I cannot fathom its full extent. 23
71:16 I will come and tell about 24 the mighty acts of the sovereign Lord.
I will proclaim your justice – yours alone.
71:17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring 25 your amazing deeds.
71:18 Even when I am old and gray, 26
O God, do not abandon me,
until I tell the next generation about your strength,
and those coming after me about your power. 27
71:19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; 28
you have done great things. 29
O God, who can compare to you? 30
71:20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress, 31
revive me once again! 32
Bring me up once again 33 from the depths of the earth!
[71:1] 1 sn Psalm 71. The psalmist prays for divine intervention and expresses his confidence that God will protect and vindicate him. The first three verses are very similar to Ps 31:1-3a.
[71:2] 2 tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me and deliver me.” Ps 31:1 omits “and deliver me.”
[71:2] 3 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
[71:2] 4 tn Ps 31:2 adds “quickly” before “deliver.”
[71:3] 5 tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (ma’on, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (ma’oz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).
[71:3] 6 tc Heb “to enter continually, you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavo’ tamid tsivvita, “to enter continually, you commanded”) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (lÿvet mÿtsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).
[71:3] 7 sn You are my high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
[71:5] 9 tn Heb “for you [are] my hope.”
[71:5] 10 tn Heb “O
[71:6] 11 tn Heb “from the womb.”
[71:6] 12 tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).
[71:6] 13 tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”
[71:7] 14 tn Heb “like a sign [i.e., portent or bad omen] I am to many.”
[71:8] 15 tn Heb “my mouth is filled [with] your praise, all the day [with] your splendor.”
[71:9] 16 tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”
[71:10] 17 tn Heb “those who watch for my life consult together.”
[71:12] 19 tn Heb “hurry to my help.”
[71:13] 20 tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”
[71:14] 21 tn Heb “and I add to all your praise.”
[71:15] 22 tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”
[71:15] 23 tn Heb “though I do not know [the] numbers,” that is, the tally of God’s just and saving acts. HALOT 768 s.v. סְפֹרוֹת understands the plural noun to mean “the art of writing.”
[71:16] 24 tn Heb “I will come with.”
[71:17] 25 tn Heb “and until now I am declaring.”
[71:18] 26 tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”
[71:18] 27 tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.
[71:19] 28 tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.
[71:19] 29 tn Heb “you who have done great things.”
[71:19] 30 tn Or “Who is like you?”
[71:20] 31 tn Heb “you who have caused me to see many harmful distresses.”
[71:20] 32 tn Heb “you return, you give me life.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will revive me once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
[71:20] 33 tn Heb “you return, you bring me up.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will bring me up once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
